The first is Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period. Confucius has many titles, educator, thinker, philosopher, social activist, old man ... The list is long, and I think we should add one more: food. Although Confucius once boasted that "a gentleman can't have enough to eat, he can't live in peace", but in fact he is a very fastidious person. His attention involves etiquette, hygiene, taste and other aspects. There is a passage in The Analects of Confucius and the Rural Party that can be regarded as an outline of Confucius' food culture thought:
Never tire of food, never tire of food.
If you eat food, you will get food; If you are hungry, you will lose meat; If you don't eat; Color is evil, do not eat; Smelly, don't eat; Lose food, don't eat; From time to time, don't eat; Cut it inappropriately and don't eat it; No sauce, no food.
Although there is a lot of meat, there is nothing better than eating.
There is no limit to wine, and it is not chaotic.
Don't withdraw ginger food.
Sacrifice to the public, leaving no meat. Sacrifice meat for three days, but don't eat for three days.
Eat without talking, sleep without talking.
Although vegetables eat vegetable soup and melon sacrifices, they must be in the same place.
Pay attention to the fact that ordinary people can't catch up. Of course, Confucius also expressed his views on diet in other places. Limited to space, I won't quote them one by one. This passage alone is enough to prove that Confucius, who lived 2500 years ago, is a well-deserved gourmet!
The second is Cao Cao in the late Han Dynasty. Everyone in the world says that Cao Cao is a traitor, who has a little in-depth knowledge or is praised as a capable minister; Anyone who has read the history of literature knows that Cao Cao is a poet; From his poems, we know that Cao Cao has a good understanding of wine culture and wrote such a famous sentence as "How to solve doubts, only Du Kang". As we all know, Cao Cao studied the art of cooking hard. According to Wang Shihan's Selected Works of Yu Quan Science, Wei Wu's Four Seasons Food System is one of the books cited in the annotation of Selected Works. In other words, Cao Cao may have done special research on cooking and written special works. Now we can see the Four Seasons Food System, which is compiled from documents such as Taiping Yulan, all about the origin and eating methods of fish. There are 14 kinds of fish, some of which are hard to find today. Here are three short examples:
Pixian fish, with yellow scales and red tails, can be used as sauce when it comes out of rice fields. (Magnolia 936)
Sparse-toothed fish, which tastes like pork, goes out of the East China Sea. (Magnolia 940)
The marlin is as big as five buckets, long and has a chin. He often comes up from the river in mid-March and is often caught in Jin Meng. Yellow and fat, just for work.
Strong. Huai water can also be used. ("beginner" 30)
Obviously, Cao Cao is a gourmet who loves fish very much.
The third is Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty. In many people's minds, Du Fu, the poet saint, is a bitter poet who has been down and out all his life and is cynical. In fact, it is a big fallacy! Du Fu was born in a famous family and lived a carefree life since childhood. When he was young, he lived a life of chasing animals and horses. Although I have suffered a lot since middle age, I am a person who lives in the ruling class and has seen all kinds of delicacies. In his poems, there are vivid descriptions of court banquets, royal banquets and farmers' drinking. The description of eating sashimi in the poem "Ganxiang Jiang Qi Shaofu made a silver carp and gave it to Long song"; In the poem "Drinking after Illness", a friend gave a banquet, and the host tried his best to make a table of wine and meat to let him see the truth in troubled times; In the poem "Eight Guards in Chu Shi", a simple snack in wartime, "Spring leeks are cut in the rain at night, and brown rice is specially cooked", is full of human warmth ... These are treasures in the history of literature. It can be said that Du Fu was the first person to express China cuisine in poetry. Needless to say, Du Fu is a super gourmet.
The fourth is Su Shi in the Song Dynasty. Undoubtedly, Su Shi is the most famous gourmet in the history of China. Because he invented a dish that has always been very popular: Dongpo pork. Besides pork, Su Shi's favorite dishes are all kinds of fish (including yellow croaker, octopus, perch, etc. ), the most famous of which is about puffer fish. A poem from two night scenes in Riverside of Hui Chong;
Two or three peach blossoms outside the bamboo forest and ducks in the water first noticed the warm spring.
The beach is covered with wormwood, asparagus is beginning to sprout, and puffer fish are preparing to swim upstream from the sea back to the river.
This shows the courage of Su Shi, a gourmet. In his later years, Su Shi's interest turned to vegetarianism, mainly eating vegetables and fruits. During his stay in Hainan, Guangdong, he tasted all kinds of fruits in the south, such as bayberry, orange, litchi, longan, olive and betel nut, and didn't like anything. Among them, I especially like litchi. "300 lychees a day, I will not hesitate to be a Lingnan person!" Famous sentences remain on earth. In addition, Su Shi devoted himself to the development of soup in his later years. He invented several kinds of soups, one of which was made of bamboo shoots, minced rice (minced ginger, garlic and leeks) and shepherd's purse. "In the new year, bamboo shoots germinate, and the old poppy is poured out by the frost on the stove. I walked around the wheat field, begging for weeds, and was forced to cook yam soup for the monk's house. " ("Growing vegetables without rain for a long time in the second rhyme") One was made by Su Shi in the field, and the other was a broken tripod. The main materials are radish and turnip (that is, radish). This soup probably has a good health care function, and Mr. Dongpo is quite proud of it. He called himself "Zhen Zhu" and got his name from Dongpo Soup (Dishaofu Boiled Stewed Stewed Stewed Stewed Stewed Stewed Stewed Reed Soup). There is also a golden Dongpo soup called Dongpo Yuman Soup-actually invented by Su Guo, the son of Su Shi. "Sweet as a dragon's saliva is still white, and it tastes more clear like milk. Don't make the South China Sea glittering, lighter than Dongpo jade! " ("The child suddenly came up with a new idea and used yam as a liquid soup, which was delicious in color and flavor. Sutuo in the sky is unknown, and there is no such taste on earth. It tastes so good that Su Dongpo kept the recipe secret and refused to announce it, only telling us that the main ingredient is sweet potato.